The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1887-02-12
HONDURAS.
PRODUCTS OF THIS CENTRAL
AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
Its Woods and Fruits-CiEar-boA
Timber-NIahOgan Trccs-tho
Nutriiiyc PIantain, Bananas
aud Cocoanuts Trees

trade of Spanish Honduras. The trade
EMPLOYS numerous ocean steamships, ana
ne rly all of the native laborers. Inc
be ginning of these industries was IN
1913. Mahogany is row The most I'M
rortant timber in naval C Instruction,
where it is used largely for p'ank ng.
Cannon balls 20 through it without
splntering or splitting the wood. The
b.st timber is shipped to England, and
the cheaper qualities come to tho niteo
states for the manufactu: OF furniture
and for interior finish. Nearly all
sleeping and drawing-room coaches are
finished with 1t.
m ricans are taking from Hond iras,
and shipping them everywhere, the pest
fruits and woods OF the word. A glance
at these products will certainly surprise
the best informed people. All OF our
cigar-boxes are made from the Spanish
cedars of Honduras. This wood is sus-
ccptible of beautiful polish, and Is
much in use for interior finish. 1t very
nearly resembles mahogany, and Is, per-
haps, the on y wood which will not I'M
pregnate cigars with its odor. Hard satin
wood grows beautifully. and is one oil
the principal building timbers of Hon
duras. It is yellowish in cast. and makes
beautiful hard surface. The tamarind
compares very closely with mahogany,
except that it is very hard and curly. 1t
is used for panel and veneer work. The
sanodilla is a very hard, close-grained
red wool. durable and strong. A large
percentage of our hubs are male from
it The ebra- wood will be found in
our pockets and on the country table In
form of knife-handles. 1t resembles
rosewood 1t is lighter than the South
American variety, and very fine. 1t Is
also used for veneer work and all kinds
of rosewood veneering. The lignum
Wit c, which is also used for knife ham
dies, etc, is quite well known, The
cabb ,ge-palms are found in our most
beautiful canes, and are likely to form
the brush backs of the future. Twenty
or Thirty other varieties of wood exist
there, more or less in use. The pine
! found in the mountains is too hard and
p ny for any use except as timber.
The mahogany trees are hunted in the
fall months The laborers are hired
about Christmas time. During the rainy
season, the logs are foated down the
river to the steamships on the coast and
loaied. The trucking is done with large
two-whcel trucks, with seven to ten foo'
wheels, drawn by five and eight yoke o.
oxen. The labor is all done by task
Every man is given a task OF SO man!
logs to fall, to square, or 81 many truck
paths to make. etc. The men are di
vided into gangs of twelve and fifteen
under q foreman, who sees that each ont
per orms his task. Laborers are paiC
from 80 10 SIS per month, with rations
Their rations consist of four pounds o
pork and seven quarts of -four weekly
or, if preferred, fifty plantains and sill
pounds of beef. The iorcmcn get extr!
raiions and coffee and sugar. The Gait e
drivers are allowed moccasins, but tn
rest 90 barcfooted. The mahogany j
generally found in the valleys, along III
small streams. up the mountains. TIL
convenient supply is very limited, ant
will soon lie exhausted. The trees pro
duce from /, coo to 10, 900 feet of lumbe
each. They average from forty to eight
feet in he ght and from two o eight fee
in diameter.
New Orleans consumes all the plan
tsins shipped from Honduras. This won
derful fruit contains all the nutritivc ele
nents of wheat, and quite an amount O
saccharinc m alter. 1t makes dele on
article of food. whether fried, boiled @
roasted. It resemble, the banana j
color and appearance, but is one-thir
larger in 81 e. The plartain, with drie
beef forms almost exclusively the die
of the Honduraneans, particularly th
Indians. Some oranges are raised, 81
perior to all others
For bananas, the land is first cleare
by cutting down the brush and larg
trees, and burning the land over. Aftt
Gle rinr. the suckers are planted j